Community forum examines Black life in Richmond

The Department of African American Studies, in collaboration with The Jericho Movement, hosted a ‘Black Richmond’ community forum about political prisoners Oct. 18.

Adam Ewing, co-organizer of The Community Forum and a professor in the department of African American Studies, said the idea for the forum sprung up after hosting an event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party.

Ewing said he and his co-organizer, Jihad Abdulmumit, wanted to create a space for the Richmond community to connect.

“The idea is to draw in people’s actual experiences with dealing with these issues,” Ewing said.

This month’s forum was facilitated by Abdulmumit, who serves as chairperson of the Jericho Movement. The Jericho Movement advocates for the recognition and release of political prisoners in the United States. There are currently hundreds of people incarcerated for their political views and the resulting actions in the U.S. Abdulmumit also works as a community case manager for a health clinic, conducting HIV screenings and workshops in prisons.  

Wednesday’s forum focused on political incarceration.

“This is one of the most tangible connections with our revolutionary and progressive past,” Abdulmumit said. “I’m representing my comrades that have been imprisoned for decades because we fought against racism and police violence in our communities.”

He said it is essential to know about the freedom fighters and revolutionaries that have been incarcerated for decades in our country.

Many political prisoners in the U.S. are currently incarcerated because of their involvement in the Black Liberation Movement in the 1960s and 70s. Abdulmumit was incarcerated for 23 years as a political prisoner for his involvement with the Black Panther Party.

Abdulmumit began the forum with a moment of silence for those incarcerated and suffering. He focused the rest of the forum discussion on the situation of current political prisoners and the responsibility of this country’s citizens to fight for prisoners’ freedom and amnesty.

“These are real bodies,” Abdulmumit said. “These are real people.”

Abdulmumit stressed the necessity of supporting political prisoners, or at the very least, knowing about them. He talked about solution-based action steps and precautions to take to avoid getting incarcerated as a political prisoner.

He broke the audience down into group demonstrations about political movements, security precautions and proposed potential solutions.

Chelsea Gurley, a student who attended the forum, said certain actions are criminally associated with one race but not with others. The imprisonment of Black extremist and radicalized group members follows the rhetoric connecting Black lives to criminalization, the same rhetoric floating around the war on drugs, she said.

Ewing, who specializes in the history of the African diaspora and pan-Africanism, commented on the criminalization of Black action.

“A reality of the struggle for justice in the Black community is that every step of the way, it’s been criminalized,” Ewing said. “The criminal justice system, incarceration, jails and prisons have been a device to to slow down the efforts of people to seek freedom in a variety of ways.”

The criminalization of radicalized political organizations like the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army in the 1960s and ‘70s resulted in the mass incarceration of protesters and active members.

Since then, Ewing said, American society has moved away from claiming any responsibility for the incarcerated.

“We have worked very hard as a society to not see prisoners in any meaningful sense,” Ewing said. “We sort of throw away the key and consider prisoners as people that we don’t have to worry about because they’re behind bars. We’re so conditioned to think of prisoners as devalued people.”

Abdulmumit said the elimination of all forms of struggle by institutions has created a society where the strife of political prisoners is pushed aside.

“This is a quantum leap between four decades of media bombardment and materialism and distractions,” he said.

Abdulmumit closed by reiterating the power of the current generation. He said strategic, critical thinkers are what we need.

“We want to be in the position at the forefront of change,” Abdulmumit said.

The Community Forum will host another meeting on Nov. 15 about Black representation in film, facilitated by Enjoli Moon.

Ewing and Abdulmumit organized the series to continue in the spring semester, with topics ranging from mental health to prisoner’s rights. The forums are free and open to the public.

Saffeya Ahmed

Contributing Writer